For commercial pilots, how difficult is it to master the Boeing (yoke) versus the Airbus (kickstick)? Do AF or NW have pilots that fly both a/c during the same month or so? Excuse my ignorance in the terms of the hardware on the respected planes.

It never gives feedback. But this is intentional. The Airbus stick is not meant as a direct connection to the control surfaces, as more conventional yokes and sticks are. It is a roll and pitch rate selector. The force the pilot exerts on the stick is an indication of his desired roll or pitch rate. How that rate is achieved is then up to the plane.

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

Sure, if you fly the DC-9 and the MD-8x and the MD-9x at the same time, it's no biggie, but the differences are not so major. Keeping pilots current on both Airbus AND Boeing is possible, but would probably cost too much to be practical for the airline since the differences are great.

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

It took me about 20 minutes to get used to the sidestick, and then felt very natural, and still does.

It is not really accurate to say there is no feedback from the sidestick though. When in Normal Law, the sidestick is "springed" back to neutral. The further from neutral you are, the greater the push back to neutral. So, it doesn't feel like a computer joystick, it feels like a control yoke.

In hydraulically controlled aircraft with feedback, this is exactly how it feels. Same for unassisted controls, the further you deflect a control surface, the stronger the wind force to return that control surface to neutral. When flying with a sidestick, this spring feedback is essential, otherwise one would overcontrol. Much like the very early Comet I crashes due to overrotation on takeoff, you need that spring to remind you that you are commanding "something" other than neutral.

When in Direct Law, namely the first ~50ft of takeoff, the last ~50ft of landing, or when degraded due to computer failures, the sidestick reacts exactly like a control yoke of a conventional aircraft. That is the say the feedback increases with respect to aircraft attitude, instead of control surface deflection.

Having only flown Cessnas and Pipers, I got to try a Cirrus SR22 the other day. I got used to the stick in no time, real nice, even with my left hand...
Now, I realize we're talking about machines way bigger than GA aircraft, but anyhow, I liked the sidestick. But then again the SR22 is not your average GA aircraft either.

Well, I think that the yoke is better. It gives feedback which, I like-it gives me a better feel. Of course, I've never flown an Airbus besides from a coach seat, but I do use the stick on FS2004. The yoke on the cessnas I fly in are nice. You learn with a yoke, I think you should keep it uniform. When things go worng, you have to use your experience and training. When a lot of your hours are on a yoke and your using a stick it may be hard. The stick doesn't sound that good in my opinion.
SR

Going from one to the other isn't hard. I've flown Katanas, a Lancair, and SR-20. They all work the same way. Push it forward, the cows get bigger, pull back and the cows get smaller. As for the inverted design like Embaers and Hawkers, they fit into the natural hand position and are very comfortable from what I hear. To be honest though, when you get to that type of aircraft, you do very little hand flying. They aren't easy to control at cruise and the auto pilot does a much better job of keeping the movements from causing the passengers in the back to puke.

777s also have no mechanical connection to the flight controls. All movements are interpreted by the ARINC Bus and then digitally sent to the flight control actuators. Boeing and Airbus have different fly-by-wire philosophies though. Airbus sticks don't give feedback and give very little movement. Boeing has a compensator system that gives the yolk a "feel" like flying by hand.

the airbus mcdoo (MCDU) is enough to drive a boeing pilot up the walls! i highly doubt that airlines keep pilots current on both the airbusses and the boeings in thier fleet, it's just impractical and a lot of work for the pilot.

The Airbus sidestick doesn't give feedback of any sort. It only provides increasing resistance when increasingly deflected from the neutral position. But that resistance is a mechanical function of the centering mechanism - it doesn't change with flight conditions.

The sidestick "appears" to give feedback when in flare mode or direct law because the autotrim function changes in flare mode and isn't active in direct law. That means that instead of flying stick-neutral, the stick has to be constantly deflected, which to the pilot feels much like "feedback".

Landing an Airbus: Guys it doesn't have to be an insult. The Airbus says it three times as a verb, only after that does it become a noun.

Flying with Left or Right Hand: This one never fails to amaze me when it comes up. "Is it hard to fly with the left hand after using the right?" Let me ask you this; do you crash your car every time you take your preferred hand off the steering wheel? A ten hour student should be able to fly with either hand, or even standing up. It is the movement of the yoke or stick that matters and that does not change when you switch hands or seats.

Sidestick feedback: In Airbus training I stumped the instructor. He was talking about flight control laws and said that in Direct Law you'd get the ECAM message "USE MANUAL PITCH TRIM." I asked the instructor (not a pilot) since there is no feedback to the sidestick how would we know when pitch trim was needed?

I'll let you chew on that one for a while.

Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.

Sidestick feedback: In Airbus training I stumped the instructor. He was talking about flight control laws and said that in Direct Law you'd get the ECAM message "USE MANUAL PITCH TRIM." I asked the instructor (not a pilot) since there is no feedback to the sidestick how would we know when pitch trim was needed?

I'll let you chew on that one for a while.

Hmmmmm.... Let go of the stick and see if the plane remain stable in pitch? It does indeed seem a bit tricky....

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

Flying from the other seat does take a bit of getting used to. I tried landing the Cessna 172 from the right seat a few weeks ago (I was the safety pilot) and I found it quite difficult. I'm sure with a bit of practice it would be a fair bit easier though.